


sea of lights (for our stars)

by Salty_Bok_Choy



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/F, Fluff, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21743959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_Bok_Choy/pseuds/Salty_Bok_Choy
Summary: “Hey Otae, I just had a dream.”“Hm?” Tae keeps an ear facing towards Kasumi as she rifles through the next set of sheet music.“We were performing on a stage,” Kasumi recalls, thinking back on the details of her dream. “Well it was just you and me ‘cos sadly, Arisa, Saaya and Rimirin couldn’t make it.” Kasumi frowns a little, but she brightens up just as fast, “But our fans were so happy to see us play!"
Relationships: Hanazono Tae/Ichigaya Arisa/Toyama Kasumi/Ushigome Rimi/Yamabuki Saaya, Hanazono Tae/Toyama Kasumi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	sea of lights (for our stars)

**Author's Note:**

> no beta, only caffeine. 
> 
> 3 hours of sleep and over 24 hours after the PoPiPa mini live later...
> 
> Lyrics borrowed from these songs:  
> Kizuna Music  
> Star Beat  
> Returns

Clusters of red and blue lights mixed with yellow, pink, and purple, waving in tune with the sound of the acoustic guitar playing. The crowd cheered over and over again, rarely a silent moment as Kasumi and Tae 

“ _That is,_ ” a beat and, Kasumi and Tae belts, “ _Kizuna Music_!” Tae slaps the sound board of her acoustic guitar on the last beat. “ _A beloved song. A song of promises. A song of eternity._ ”

“ _Let it reach! We have always been,_ ” Kasumi reaches out to the crowd, “ _With our everything! Forever for dreaming!_ ”

The majority of the red and blue lights slows down their fast paced motion. Holding one of their pen lights towards their heart, the fans extend the other light as if each holding a vigil of their own. 

Kasumi’s voice softens to a whisper, looking straight at Tae, and sings with her entire heart behind the lyrics, “ _I am with you._ ”

Tae gets misty eyes but she easily follows Kasumi’s familiar pace, and gently sings, “ _Forever for dreaming._ ”

Kasumi closes her eyes, listening to Tae’s strumming as she sings the final line, “ _I’ll believe in you._ ”

Tae dedicates the last few notes for Kasumi alone. 

Kasumi opens her eyes to Tae smiling at her, sweat dripping off her brow. They share a meaningful look and Tae tips a shoulder towards the audience. It’s hard to tear her eyes away from Tae, but eventually Kasumi faces the crowd.

The crowd goes wild with applause, fans jumping and waving their pen lights around. There’s so much energy and it's infectious that Kasumi's grin widens. “Thank you everyone!! We are Poppin’ Party!” she yells into the mic—

And then the world blurs.

**☆☆**

Groggily, Kasumi blinks, her eyelids heavy with exhaustion. It takes her a moment to process that she’s in Arisa’s warehouse and that her cheeks’ resting on something warm.

“Sleep well?” Tae asks, looking up from her sheet music. 

“Yeah.” Kasumi snuggles against Tae’s shoulder. “Hey Otae, I just had a dream.”

“Hm?” Tae keeps an ear facing towards Kasumi as she rifles through the next set of sheet music.

“We were performing on a stage,” Kasumi recalls, thinking back on the details of her dream. “Well it was just you and me ‘cos sadly, Arisa, Saaya and Rimirin couldn’t make it.” Kasumi frowns a little, but she brightens up just as fast, “But our fans were so happy to see us play! There was a whooole lot of red and blue and even some lights with yellow, pink, and purple in the crowd.”

“Such a weirdo,” Tae teases, tucking Kasumi under her arm. “Our fans really did love us.”

“Yeah, they really did,” Kasumi says wistfully, idly tracing a tattoo on Tae’s bicep. Another detail hit Kasumi. “Oh and we were playing using acoustic guitars. It’s been a while since we did that but it was really fun!”

Then reality hits and Kasumi sighs, crossing her arms across her chest. “It’s been so long since we last played something together, huh.” 

A heavy silence fills the room.

It’s just one small thing after another after they graduated college and went their separate career paths. While their jobs keep them busy and maybe they can’t always see each other every day, Kasumi made time every day to send a quick text to their group chat, sending every single one of them a little note. 

Tae shuffles the pages in her hand before setting them down and reaching for something out of sight. Kasumi's eyes widen as she spots the acoustic guitar. Tae strums her guitar, playing a familiar chord. She winks. "Why don't we make your dream a reality?"

“ _The one thing I wanted had seemed oh so far away,_ ” Tae begins, her voice a soft comfort. Kasumi glances up at her and Tae smiles back. “ _Felt like I had to protect the fragmented dream._ ”

Kasumi grins as though she couldn’t believe her ears, singing the next part by instinct, “ _Hey, you there, can you hear it?_ ”

And before they know it, it feels as if they were teleported back in time to a decade ago, practicing every day in this small, cozy room to one day perform at SPACE. 

Tae smiles leaning against Kasumi. “ _With my eyelids closed, I knew that I had to give up._ ” 

“And now with a smile, now with forgiveness,” Kasumi’s voice rings, her pitch perfect, and it’s like it was yesterday that she sang this song.

“ _And as for all of yesterday's dreams_.” Tae teasingly bumps Kasumi’s shoulder.

Instead of bumping back, Kasumi straights and whispers, “ _I have to say goodbye,_ ” into Tae’s ears and shivers travel down Tae’s arms.

Harmonizing their voices, they hum the last line together, “ _Lalalala, Lalalala…_ ”

This time, a comfortable silence settles between them and they giggle, Kasumi’s watery while Tae’s is soft— vulnerable in a way that only the precious few people in Tae’s life gets to witness.

“Otae?” Kasumi looks up at her girlfriend through blurry eyesight, the tears flowing now that there’s nothing to keep them at bay.

“Kasumi.” Tae places the acoustic guitar down by the couch and reaches for Kasumi's hand. From the way Tae's voice pitches slightly higher than normal, it's a fact that she’s crying too and now, they’re a sobbing mess, clinging to each other tightly and never wanting to let go. “I love you and I love PoPiPa.”

“I do too. I love you all so much it _hurts_ ,” Kasumi admits, fisting her hand in Tae’s shirt. It wasn’t like Kasumi to express pain but it was different when it comes to Poppin’ Party. She feels even _more_ than what she normally does.

“I know, I _know_ ,” Tae responds fiercely, feeling Kasumi’s hot tears against her neck. She kisses where she could reach Kasumi without breaking out of their embrace.

Suddenly, there’s a bunch of clapping and the duo look above to see their girlfriends watching them.

“You two did great!” Rimi claps enthusiastically, breaking the weighted atmosphere..

“Oh geez, you two,” Arisa says softly, fishing for a handkerchief from her purse.

“PoPiPa pile!” Saaya slings her arms around Arisa and Rimi’s shoulders, urshing them towards the duo. Arisa drops her purse before she’s smooshed in the middle with Kasumi and Rimi has her face pressed against Tae’s shoulder while Saaya encircles them in an embrace. Tae laughs, burying her nose in Rimi’s sweet scented hair and Saaya embraces them tight, not allowing an inch of space between them.

“Simple’s best when it comes to idiots like you.” Arisa harrumph. Kasumi and Tae share matching pouts, and with the evidence of tears on their faces, Arisa softens and amends her statement with a kiss on their tear stained cheeks. “But you’re my idiots.”

“Arisaaaaa,” Kasumi calls at the same time, Tae cries, “Arisaaa!” Both squeezing Arisa in a tight, unyielding embrace.

“Yes, yes,” Arisa comforts the two as best she could in her position, which meant letting them cry on her.

“Spoken like a true wife,” Saaya needles Arisa, huffing right against her shorter girlfriend’s ear.

“We— we’re not married yet!” 

“Yet,” Tae says, wrapping an arm around Arisa’s waist. Rimi dabs at the corner of Tae's eyes with her sleeves. “Mom said she knows where to book a venue and where to get deals.”

Rimi giggles. “Didn’t Mom also say when you’re looking to shop for weddings, never mention it’s for a wedding or they raise the prices?”

“Exactly.” Tae nuzzles Rimi’s ear. “You’re so smart, Rimi.”

“Ehehe, I try.” Rimi smiles.

Arisa flushes. “W-When did you start calling Tae’s mother that?” 

Rimi shyly looks down at her ring. “When we got our rings.” 

Their rings are a simple gold band, matching the color of their brightest star. It was Rimi’s idea to get matching items, Saaya’s idea for the rings (despite saying it was a joke at first), and Arisa’s on the color.

Rimi shyly peaks Arisa’s lips. “I consider your grandma to be mine too if that helps.”

Arisa can’t resist giving Rimi a kiss. “That’s sweet of you,” Arisa admits, bumping their foreheads together.

The moment is broken when a wayward strand of hair tickles Kasumi. Bending her head back, she tries to ward off the impending sneeze, but it’s futile. 

“Aachoo!”

Arisa shrieks as Kasumi’s saliva sprays the side of her face and the rough jerk makes Tae and Saaya lose their balance. Rimi’s not strong enough to hold them all and with a cry, they end up a pile on the ground. With Tae at the bottom of the pile and Saaya at the top.

“You are unbelievable.” Arisa groans, the wet saliva sliding uncomfortably down her flesh.

“Sorry,” Kasumi sniffs, wiping her nose on Saaya’s sleeve. 

“Geez, that’s my sleeve.”

“I have a handkerchief too, but it’s in my pocket.” Rimi tries reaching but her arms are stuck in a tangle of limbs.

“You are an angel, Rimi.” Arisa could kiss her again right now, minus the snot.

“I’ll get it.” Tae manages to get a hand free and slip it between their bodies—

“Your hand is on my ass!” Arisa yells, and Tae almost winces at the volume so close to her sensitive ears.

“Language!” Saaya chastises, resigning herself to the fact that Kasumi’s still using her sleeve.

Kasumi laughs and the warm sound of it makes Rimi laugh too. Before long, the others join in and everything is right in their world again.

* * *

Coda 

_On the other side of the final door_

_You smiled at me_

☆☆☆

It’s been almost months since they’ve last hung out in Arisa’s warehouse that the mere sight of it hits Saaya with a fresh wave of nostalgia. Thought that couldn’t compare to hearing the familiar melody of the song they composed in high school. 

With her hands in front of her, Saaya automatically mimes playing the song on her drums with familiar motion.

On her shoulder, she feels Arisa tapping away the chorus with her right hand and Rimi curls an arm around Saaya’s arm, no doubt picturing the song in her head and strumming the rhythm along Saaya’s arms.

The song ends sooner than they wanted.

“I swear, they’re always like this.” Arisa says and it’s almost a complaint, if it weren’t for the tears in her eyes and the way her lower lip wobbles.

"I miss this." Rimi wipes her eyes against Saaya’s sleeves, but the tears keep coming. "I miss having time to practice and play and— and... I miss Poppin' Party. I miss _us_."

“Yeah, I do too,” Saaya agrees easily and she’s choked up herself. It’s been so long since she’s last had a jam session, even longer still as Poppin’ Party.

_But maybe today…_ Saaya thinks, hope blooming in her chest. Though she couldn’t wait much longer, she gives Arisa and Rimi a small moment to compose themselves before turning the knob on the door (to their own set of stars).

☆☆☆☆☆

**Author's Note:**

> If you remember in Episode 11 where Kasumi reached out to Tae, I wanted a call back to that moment and just god, I was bawling. That episode stuck with me forever (pls let Kasumi and Tae sing a duet for Returns), I knew I had to do something with that.
> 
> So I wrote this on the way home from CharaExpo and holy shit my heart will never be the same again watching Aimi and Sae perform together.
> 
> I’m still reeling from my experiences there and I’m so glad I met so many new people and had a lot of fun. This one is for y’all!
> 
> You can find me [here!](https://twitter.com/AoSuiSei)


End file.
